Published 10:00 pm, Tuesday, October 4, 2011

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U.S. Border Patrol Agent Ross McCart checks an infrared motion sensor along the Canadian border in Highgate Springs, VT July 26, 2000. Agents say a lack of funding and manpower in the northeast forces them to rely on technology like cameras and motion sensors to monitor border activities.

U.S. Border Patrol Agent Ross McCart checks an infrared motion sensor along the Canadian border in Highgate Springs, VT July 26, 2000. Agents say a lack of funding and manpower in the northeast forces them to

A 32-year-old Bellingham man is facing federal charges following allegations that he tried to sell a map of sensors on the U.S.-Canadian border that a friend bought at a garage sale.

In federal custody since late September, Leif Rankin is alleged to have attempted to sell the map – which depicted the locations of remote sensors and cameras along the border – to an informant he believed to be a drug smuggler.

According to charging documents, Rankin came into possession of documents describing more than 100 surveillance locations after his roommate found it in the bottom of a box of computer cables he’d purchased at a garage sale.

Writing the court, a Homeland Security Department special agent said local law enforcement learned on Sept. 1 that Rankin was attempting to sell the documents for $10,000. Officers told federal authorities Rankin – who is currently facing state drug charges – had asked “his criminal associates” if they knew anyone interested in learning the sensors’ locations.

Agents assigned to an interagency task force based in Bellingham then put a confidential informant in contact with Rankin, who was led to believe he was speaking with a Canadian drug smuggler.

On Sept. 21, Rankin told the informant the documents – dated to 2007 – were still accurate and ultimately agreed to sell them for $6,000, said the special agent, who is assigned to the Homeland Security Investigations division.

In the days that followed, Rankin told the informant the documents were 12 to 15 pages long, and detailed the locations of at least 120 sensors and cameras, the agent continued in court documents.

Making a claim later contradicted by other statements, Rankin went on to say he received the documents during a garage sale at a “border patrolman’s house,” the agent told the court. According to charging documents, Rankin said he “snatched up” the documents after spotting them at a Border Patrol officer’s home.

At 4 p.m. on Sept. 26, Rankin and a second man met with the informant to make the trade, the Homeland Security Investigations special agent told the court.

During the meeting, Rankin allegedly told the informant he found the documents while leafing through a book at a yard sale and stole them without buying the book.

“Rankin made numerous statements indicating he knew the documents could be used to defeat security countermeasures at the border by anyone engaged in illegally crossing the border,” the special agent told the court. “Rankin detailed his domestic drug trafficking activities to the (informant) and offered to begin working with the (informant) on any number of border-related criminal activities.”

Rankin attempted to run from the area when agents moved to arrest him, but was subdued after a task force agent shot him with a Taser stun gun.

Speaking with investigators, the man who’d accompanied Rankin to the meeting said Rankin had called him earlier in the day and asked that he “watch his back” during the meeting. According to court documents, the man said Rankin told him he was selling documents showing a trail across the border.

Rankin allegedly told investigators a friend of his acquired the maps at a garage sale several months before, and that his friend had asked him to sell the documents.

“Rankin stated that he had some friends with felonies or warrants that were unable to cross the border in a conventional way, and that they used similar known smuggling trails to avoid Homeland Security detection,” the special agent told the court. “Rankin further stated that he did not consider the fact that he was risking national security with the sale of the documents.”

Agents then spoke with Rankin’s “friend,” who was jailed in Whatcom County on unrelated charges.

The man allegedly told investigators he found the documents at the bottom of a large box of computer cables he purchased at a garage sale. He did not confirm Rankin’s allegation that he had asked him to sell the documents.

According to court documents, the man said Rankin had been living at his home but was kicked out after another roommate found him rifling through items stored in the garage of the house.

Rankin had been charged with theft of government property, a felony. He remains confined at the Federal Detention Center at SeaTac.